Livermore Wine Trolleys To Run Again Soon

LIVERMORE, CA — Livermore's wine trolleys will again hit the streets starting in early October after being parked for six months, the owner of Livermore Wine Trolley said Thursday.

Tours on one of Brian Luke's red and green trolleys will start Oct. 3 and be adjusted to keep people safe from COVID-19. The trolley will take visitors to Concannon Vineyard, Las Positas Vineyards and Garre Vineyard and Winery as they have a lot of space for groups of people.

"We are determined to keep on going," Luke said in a statement. Livermore Wine Trolley will reopen with a tour called Sip and Savor Wine Pairing Tour, which is a seated food and wine event. Effective Aug. 28, wineries were able to open for just wine tastings. Before they had to provide food with wine.

Livermore Wine Trolley is just now reopening because it wanted to make sure it was feasible financially to do so.

Luke said the pandemic has devasted tourism worldwide.

"To stay afloat, we've relied on our awesome patrons who've been buying gift cards to support us, but that only goes so far," he said.

Tours will be with open windows, social distancing and boarding will be in groups of six or less. Six is the maximum size for a group wanting to get the tastings together.

Hand sanitizer will be available when people board and masks are required.

Crews will clean the trolley each morning before the tour and wipe down frequently touched surfaces between stops.

The 36-passenger trolley will be operated at half capacity. Only one of the three trolleys the company has will be running through the end of the year.

"It's been too long," Lisa Tolido, spokeswoman for Livermore Wine Trolley, said in a statement. "Customers have been calling for months asking when we would reopen."

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